Prerequisites for admission.

Admission to the degree programme is subject to the possession of a secondary school diploma or equivalent suitable qualification obtained abroad.
Admission to the programme is subject to the passing of an entrance exam set in line with the laws in force concerning health professions and the nationally programmed access (Law 264/99) and the relative call for admissions issued by UNIMORE.
Knowledge required for admission is deemed to be appropriate for all candidates obtaining a minimum of 20 points in the entrance exam, as laid down in Ministerial Decree no. 85 of 5 February 2014.
Candidates not achieving this score shall be assigned additional learning requirements (OFA) to be completed by attending the remedial courses indicated by the degree programme.

Skills associated with the function

The programme trains students for the profession of PSYCHIATRIC REHABILITATION TECHNICIAN
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates must have the following abilities and competences in order to appropriately exercise their profession:
1) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge and understanding during the exercise of their profession, particularly: they are able to modulate and integrate theoretical knowledge and practical skills acquired during the programme to run evidence-based rehabilitation programmes; they are able to apply rehabilitation techniques based on scientific evidence to guarantee that psychiatric patients achieve the best possible quality of life (at the lowest cost and in the shortest possible time); they possess the elements required to continuously update their professional skills in order to offer a high quality service; they are a full member of the multidisciplinary care team. In the team, they take part in all decision making phases to ensure the correct implementation of an integrated rehabilitation project: identification of problems, choice of priorities, identification of realistic objectives for the patient, choice and application of most appropriate rehabilitation techniques, choice of evaluation criteria applied to the rehabilitation project; they are fully able to offer a precise and appropriate assessment of their own work; with the knowledge acquired, they are able to recognise the disabilities caused by a patient's mental disorder. In particular they are able to correlate the type and degree of disability to the subjective characteristics of the individual (age, social status, job, living conditions); they assist in the definition and implementation of the changes required to ensure that the patients' living environment is safe and suitable as a care context.
2) Judgement skills. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates are autonomous in making judgements in the exercise of their profession, in particular: they actively participate in all choices taken by the multidisciplinary care team, providing their own knowledge and skills; they are able to implement continuous rehabilitation programme making the most of the available resources; they are able to cope with any unforeseen circumstances affecting their work. In particular they are able to fully autonomously make choices that are compliant with the medical, legal and ethical indications of their profession; they are able to implement changes to the rehabilitation programme if the set objectives are not being met.
3) Communication Skills. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates express communication skills in interpersonal relations, in particular: they establish and maintain relationships not only with patients but also the social networks closest to the patient. In particular they work in turn to ensure that families and friends of the patients can become active participants in the healing process; the relations established with the family group are also indispensable to create the climate of collaboration required to allow the family to adopt appropriate strategies for change to support the therapeutic process; they are able to recognise the difference between a professional relationship supporting the healing process and a friendly relationship; they are able to create therapeutic relationships also with patients from different cultures; they manage promotion and prevention interventions on mental health (in schools); using their own interpersonal skills, they are able to actively participate in the patients' return to society. In particular they act as a bridge between the mental health service and the community services (social, recreational, care, etc.).
4) Learning skills. Psychiatric rehabilitation is constantly developing, and can to all extents and purposes be considered a "work in progress". In the three years, the degree programme provides the indispensable skills for graduates to be able to update and use their own knowledge. In particular graduates are able to: develop a mentality that always considers new problems, as a useful tool for improving their own knowledge and human baggage; be aware of the utility of the care team as a tool for seeking responses to their own questions and uncertainties; autonomously study scientific articles published in International and Italian journals; assume full responsibility for their own need to update their cultural baggage.

Function in a work context

The programme trains students for the profession of PSYCHIATRIC REHABILITATION TECHNICIAN
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates are health professionals with the responsibilities laid down in the Ministry of Health Decree no. 182 of 29 March 2001; within a therapeutic project drafted by a multidisciplinary team, they conduct rehabilitation and educational interventions with patients suffering from mental disabilities. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates cooperate in the evaluation of the programme of mental disability and the potential of the patient, analysing developmental needs and resources of the family and socio-environmental context; they collaborate in identifying the learning and therapeutic and psychiatric rehabilitation objectives and draft the specific intervention plan to support recovery and development for the treated patient; they implement interventions for the empowerment/rehabilitation of patients focusing on self-care and interpersonal relations of varying complexity and, where possible, focusing on a work activity; they work in primary prevention in the community, promoting the development of network relationships, fostering the acceptance and management of risk situations; they work with the families and social contexts of the patients, aiming to support their return to the community; the cooperate in the evaluation of the empowerment and rehabilitation programmes of individual patients, compared to the set objectives; they contribute to the training of support staff, directly developing their own professional profile; they practice their professional activities in public or private health services, as employees or on a freelance basis.

Educational goals

At the end of the programme, graduates are able to:
- conduct rehabilitation and educational programmes with persons with mental disabilities within a treatment plan defined by a multidisciplinary team;
- analyse the needs and requirements for growth, measuring the resources available in the family and socio-environmental context;
- cooperate in assessing psycho-social hardship, mental disability and the (expressed/unexpressed) potential of the patient;
- cooperate in defining learning and therapeutic outcomes;
- cooperate in defining the rehabilitation programme;
- conduct interventions for the empowerment/rehabilitation of patients in terms of self-care and interpersonal relationships of varying complexity and, where possible, focusing on a work activity;
- promote the development of the patients' social network to guarantee the best possible management of risk situations;
- cooperate on the return to the community for patients suffering from psychiatric conditions. In particular, this can be done with the help of a family, social and working network;
- cooperate in the evaluation of the outcomes of the empowerment and rehabilitation programme for single patients, particularly comparing them with the initially defined objectives;
- contribute to support staff training and pro-actively follow principles of lifelong learning in line with their own professional profile;
- recognise, enhance and respect their own role and competences and those of others in order to fully and effectively implement the rehabilitation with the whole therapy team.
Curriculum:
The first year of the 1st cycle degree programme in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques is structured to allow students to acquire (mainly preparatory) biomedical knowledge and the foundations of professional skills used in the first internship experience. The internship in Year I of the programme is purely observational: guided by the tutor, students observe the application of rehabilitation techniques.
The second year of the Degree Programme in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques at the School of Medicine of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia aims to further clinical and professional knowledge in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation. The internship in Year II is semi-observational.
The third year of the Degree Programme in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques aims to study specific topics of psychiatric rehabilitation and develop team-working skills. Students also acquire methodological skills applied to scientific research, supporting the production of the dissertation. Concerning Vocational Activities, students can experiment the gradual assumption of responsibility, under the supervision of a tutor.

Communication skills

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates express their communication skills in interpersonal relations, in particular:
o they establish and maintain relationships not only with patients but also the social networks closest to the patient. In particular they work in turn to ensure that families and friends of the patients can become active participants in the healing process;
o the relations established with the family group are also indispensable to create the climate of collaboration required to allow the family to adopt appropriate strategies for change to support the therapeutic process.
o they are able to recognise the difference between a professional relationship supporting the healing process and a friendly relationship;
o they are able to create therapeutic relationships also with patients from different cultures;
o they manage promotion and prevention interventions on mental health (in schools)
o using their own interpersonal skills, they are able to actively participate in the patients' return to society. In particular they act as a bridge between the mental health service and the community services (social, recreational, care, etc.).
Methodologies and learning activities, teaching tools for developing the expected outcomes: lectures; readings and group discussions; video and multimedia supports; group discussions of clinical cases. Assessment tools for verifying the achieved results: written and oral exams; simulations.

Making Judgements

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates are able to make judgements in the exercise of their professional activity, in particular by:
o actively participating in all choices made by the multidisciplinary team, contributing with their own knowledge and competence;
o ensuring continuous rehabilitation services making the most of all the available resources;
o being able to cope with all unforeseen circumstances that they may come across in the exercise of their profession. In particular they are able to autonomously make choices respecting the medical-legal and ethical indications of their profession;
o being able to implement changes to the rehabilitation programme, if the set objectives are not achieved.
Methodologies and learning activities, teaching tools for developing the expected outcomes: lectures; readings and group discussions; video and multimedia supports; group discussions of clinical cases.
Assessment tools for verifying the achieved results: written and oral exams; simulations.

Learning skills

Psychiatric rehabilitation is constantly developing, and can to all extents and purposes be considered a "work in progress". In the three years, the degree programme provides the indispensable skills for graduates to be able to update and use their own knowledge. Graduates will in particular be able to:
o develop a mentality that always considers new problems, as a useful tool for improving their own knowledge and human baggage;
o be aware of the utility of the care team as a tool for seeking responses to their own questions and uncertainties:
o autonomously study scientific articles published in International and Italian journals;
o assume full responsibility for their own need to update their cultural baggage.
Learning methods and activities, teaching tools to develop the learning outcomes: lectures, use of multimedia systems (video/audio) and role-playing.
Assessment tools for verifying the achieved results: written and oral exams.

Knowledge and understanding

Generic Area
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician graduates will have solid knowledge and understanding of the following areas:
- definition, history and developments of psychiatric rehabilitation;
- mental and psychiatric semiotic activities; classification of mental disorders; the patient-therapist relationship; the setting.
- principles and basic notions of the concept of psychotherapy; definition of the main psychotherapy schools.
- critical historical and socio-cultural analysis of the concepts of normality, health, disease, disability, handicap
- psycho-social, humanistic and anthropological sciences to understand the cognitive and behavioural responses of an individual in different life contexts;
- child development: characteristics of normal and pathological development; mother/child relationships;
- phenomenology of ageing: basic concepts, geriatric pathologies, psychiatric disorders in the elderly; cognitive disorders of the elderly;
- biomedical preparatory sciences: for understanding and analysing the physiological and pathological processes of the state of health and disease in individuals during different periods of development;
- neurobiological sciences: to analyse the processes underlying psychic processes.
- service organisation: institutional purposes, the multiprofessional team, organisation chart;
- legal medicine and ethical sciences for a precise and therapeutic understanding of the behaviour of the psychiatric rehabilitator
- computer studies and languages, with a particular focus on the English language to understand scientific literature;
Methodologies and learning activities, teaching tools for developing the expected outcomes: readings and group discussions; video and graphic supports; use of cognitive maps; group discussions of clinical cases.
Assessment tools for verifying the achieved results: written and oral exams; simulations.

Applying knowledge and understanding

Generic Area
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques graduates are able to apply knowledge and understanding to their professional activity, in particular:
o they are able to modulate and integrate theoretical knowledge and practical skills acquired during the programme to run evidence-based rehabilitation programmes;
o they are able to apply rehabilitation techniques based on scientific evidence to guarantee that psychiatric patients achieve the best possible quality of life (at the lowest cost and in the shortest possible time);
o they possess the elements required to continuously update their professional skills in order to offer a high quality service;
o they are a full member of the multidisciplinary care team. In the team, they take part in all decision making phases to ensure the correct implementation of an integrated rehabilitation project: identification of problems, choice of priorities, identification of realistic objectives for the patient, choice and application of most appropriate rehabilitation techniques, choice of evaluation criteria applied to the rehabilitation project;
o they are fully able to offer a precise and appropriate assessment of their own work;
o with the knowledge acquired, they are able to recognise the disabilities caused by a patient's mental disorder. In particular they are able to correlate the type and degree of disability to the subjective characteristics of the individual (age, social status, job, living conditions);
o they assist in the definition and implementation of the changes required to ensure that the patients' living environment is safe and suitable as a care context.

Methodologies and learning activities, teaching tools for developing the expected outcomes: lectures; readings and group discussions; group discussions of clinical cases.
Assessment tools for verifying the achieved results: written and oral exams; simulations; supervised role-playing.